Key highlights of the Active Thames Hub 2025

In December 2025, we hosted our fourth Active Thames Hub event. It took place at The AHOY Centre in Deptford.

This year's Hub event was shaped directly by the results of our Workforce Pulse Survey, which ran in September 2025. This survey is used to help understand how the watersports workforce is feeling: what’s working, where pressure points are emerging, and where the right kind of support can make a real difference.

Several themes came through clearly as points where support was required: venues and facilities, marketing, outreach and social media engagement and safeguarding.

The evening began with a welcome speech from Jenny Cooper-Low, PLA’s Thames Vision and Partnerships Lead.

The first guest speaker was Chris Donkin, Strategic Lead at London Sport, who discussed venues and facilities. He outlined London Sport’s work on creating more accessible and inclusive active environments, including how different facilities can be used to meet local demand. It also touched on key challenges highlighted in the survey, such as venue capacity, accessibility and storage limitations.

The second presentation was delivered by Charlotte Collins, PLA Website and Social Media Manager, and Shannon White, PLA Website and Social Media Officer. Over half of respondents (53%) to the Workforce Pulse survey said that they do not feel confident in their marketing or engagement skills. Their presentation discussed best practice for different social media platforms and how to increase engagement. It also touched on analytics and gave guidance on the use of AI tools for content creation.

The third guest speaker was Tom Marley, Founder of Played. Building on the survey’s finding that marketing remains a key skills gap, his presentation explored how clubs and providers can strengthen their digital marketing and boost engagement through data-led insights from the Played platform. He also demonstrated how sessions are currently being promoted by clubs/organisations via the Active Thames Activity Finder.

Finally, Sport Welfare Leads (Essex), Wayne Hickey and Marianne Appleton from the Sports Welfare Project addressed the survey’s finding that safeguarding remains a key area for development across clubs. Their presentation introduced support available from the Sports Welfare Project, and interactive discussions with attendees explored what a positive safeguarding culture looks like in practice.

If you want to find out more about the above topics, the guest speakers’ presentation slides are linked below:

Click here to view the presentation slides of the guest speakers